Legal Services Agency to help prevent those detained at HMP Low Moss becoming homeless

Legal Service Agency will work with prisoners at HMP Low Moss to establish their specific legal and other support needs

Disrupting Cycles of Disadvantage: Early Intervention in Homelessness is being funded by the homeless charity St Martin-in-the-Fields for three years.

Legal Services Authority will work with individuals and their families within a few weeks of their imprisonment and leading up to their release, to establish their legal and other support needs.

Caroline Love, communications officer at Legal Services Agency, said: “Around 40,000 people become homeless in Scotland each year, and those who encounter the criminal justice system are more likely to experience homelessness.

"Finding little to no person-centered support to understand their circumstances, they are more likely to become trapped in cycles of homelessness and be exposed to circumstances which can lead to reoffending.

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"The likelihood of this increases where there are other aggravating factors such as mental ill health, disabilities, alcohol and/or substance abuse and neurodiversity, as diagnoses are frequently missed and adequate healthcare is often not provided.

"We aim to challenge this inequality in our society by providing support to people detained in HMP Greenock and Low Moss.

"We will work with individuals and their families within a few weeks of their custody into prison and in the six to eight weeks leading to their release, to establish their specific legal and other support needs.

"By providing tailored legal advice and representation, we will empower the people we work with to understand their housing options and navigate legal processes, enabling them to make informed decision.

"We are grateful to the St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity (Frontline Fund) for the opportunity to help people who have found themselves in a vulnerable position to retain or obtain a safe place in which they feel at home.

"We are confident through providing legal representation, improving accessibility to legal advice and providing specialist referrals for the appropriate service, together, we can make a difference.”